Tech Crunch has just outed Network Solutions for using a VERY dodgy tactic to force people to register new domain names with them (their fees are much higher than the cheaper domain rego sites such as GoDaddy, which have taken market share from them since the early days when NS had a monopoly on the domain rego business).
Their trick is to immediately register any new domain name typed into their domain search facility, which means it becomes immediately unavailable. The searcher is thus prevented from shopping around for a cheaper deal and has to pay their rates if they want to purchase the domain name.
The implications are obvious - of course, now that this precedent has been set, GoDaddy and the rest will follow suit sooner rather than later. So be warned.
You can read the full story on Tech Crunch's site (Techcrunch) - see entry dated January 10th. Hope the administrator leaves that link in...I think this info is in all of our interests.
NOTE: They generally delete the domain names after 5 days, so a way around is just wait until such time as they have let go of the name, then register it yourself. Still, VERY poor ethics IMO.
I live 1 mile away from Network Solutions in Va... Ill go over and see what's up...lol That's a pretty lame tactic... hopefully they will change that policy?
I knew it! I've been wondering about this for years. Though it has never happened to me, i always try to ensure that i do my domain brain storming on paper and buy the ones that are available as soon as i search; always scared of that sneaky tactic.
There is another thread I was just reading a few minutes ago about the same thing. It's really dissappointing that companies do this, solely to make you pay a higher price.
Honestly, if they just matched or even were maybe a dollar or two more than GoDaddy and the other sites, I bet they would still be a popular service as they have been pioneers of the web domain world.
I was actually in search for a couple domain names last week, and was searching under Yahoo. I found a couple, and then all of the sudden 2 minutes later, all of them were already "bought." And when I searched the website through my browser, all it said was "this domain is parked, the owner may be selling!" I was pissed....now I don't search under any database, instead I just go to my browser or google it to check first.
instead I just go to my browser or google it to check first
That may not be the best way to do it. If the domain is parked, but not is use, that registers another "unique visitor" for the person that owns the domain which makes them feel like they have a domain name with traffic (which may make them think their domain is more valuable than it is)
There are also people that do "domain tasting" where they register 1000's of domain names "temporarily" to see if there is any traffic to them, and if they don't have traffic within 5 days, they "unregister" them. Although this practice is generally frowned upon (while they work on closing the icann loophole that allows it), it still happens some, so you don't want to give those people any more stats than they already have.
Network Solutions busted! 
